Category: Leh

After a few days in Leh we had enough from the endless noise of Leh. All the tourists that need a Royal Enfield to go from their guest house to a restaurant and back, all the cars that go up and down and in between the military trucks and what not. Also Helena and Jathin where running out of time. Since you need an expensive permit to go to Nubra valley and then have to get on an organized tour we decided to go to the Chander Taal or the Moon Lake since you can walk there from the road and do not need a permit.That requires a two-day trip on the mountain roads of India. The first day is a piece of cake since you only need to book a bus from Leh the day before or simply show at the bus stand in the middle of the night. We had our seats and tickets and a friendly taxi that put us in front of the bus in the middle of the night. Money well spend since we could sleep about 1 hour more. The bus left more or less on time – great. It was another hard day on the road. But the landscape is really nice. Here are some pictures for you:

We did pass a few military installations and picked up some soldiers with guns. That gives you that really “save” feeling. One of them was sick for most of the drive. Hmmm how can you kill the enemy when you have to throw up all the time?

I name you “Snake of PotHole”

Big sky and nice colours

Stupa at the second highest pass in the world

Temple at Taglangla Pass

Mr. Miky does the tourist pose

The other side – this is where we will go further

Our ride – the good old Tata bus. Hard to kill and hard on your spine.

The inside of the temple. I was the only one to take a look. Strange!

That middle of nowhere feeling

I gave the driver and the conductor a Coke at the breakfast stop. That was the best bribe ever! I had seat number 2 and 3 for myself for the whole ride – from dust till night! And the last few hours they put me on seat number 1. That was an upgrade from business class to first class! And there where many passenger that climbed the door and wanted to sit at number 2. Only in India!

At first everybody will keep driving till the vehicles face each other. Than after a few seconds everybody starts to wave hands – in the vehicle and then out of the window. If the other vehicle is a truck or a bus than it takes some time. If it is a car usually the car has to back up. Since the car drivers should know that after a while it really puzzles me how they drive right in front of the bus all the time. And all the time we could save if the drivers would only stop where the other one could pass. Incredible India!

There are lots of rivers that come down the mountains. Sometimes it makes you wonder how the small cars can manage them. With the truck or bus it is more easy because of the big wheels.

Finally we arrived at Keylong. We did find out that we have to catch the 5.30 bus to a junction so there where only a few hours to sleep. A few drunk guys did try to sell us rooms. With the usual how much and how far i decided to go with one of them. He wanted 70 Rp. I showed him 5 fingers – he stared at them for a second. Than i told him 50 and he did agree. I even gave him my bag to carry – and a 20 Rp tip. He was happy and smiling. Turns out that our room was a shitty dorm. In fact the worst dorm ever. Which was fun again. For a few hours that was our new home.

The next day I was off to the market in town to get some pictures. But guess what – there was almost nobody selling. Bad timing iI guess. Anyhow – here are the last few pictures from Leh for you:

On the way down from our guest house was a little temple that I passed so many times without stopping. This time I did!

Nice paintings inside but somebody should take care of them.

The mosque downtown

If it would not be for the shops – this would be a really nice building.

The Namgyal Tsemo Monastery – with a lot of cables

Finally i reached the market or what was left that day:

All the food did look very fresh

He has water in the oil drum – they are moving the whole day and bring water somewhere.

They remodel the whole inner city so it was all construction and dust.

Our room at the Rai-Wa guest house at Upper Changspa road. A nice chilled place with a green surrounding and a roof to sit and relax. The owner is super friendly but it was a bit expensive compared to the other rooms we had. We did pay 10€ for 4 people with the shower and toilet outside. I did pay less for an AC room with shower and toilet in Delhi. Still a nice room 🙂

Since i was super lazy and there is not really a lot to do in Leh i show you the pictures from the few times i was down town. We decided to go and take a look at the palace so you will see a few pictures from that day.Leh Palace is a former royal palace and was modelled on the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet. The palace was built in the 17th century and is not really interesting from the inside. It is empty and there is construction all over the place so you see lots of tools and unfinished renovating. They had an exhibition of castles from Hungary – very interesting – not. And than there was no power so you could not even see the exhibition. Of course foreigner had to pay 10 times more than Indians – what for?

Looks good from the outside!

But since the palace is in the middle of Leh we have to walk there – and that is what we did see – some of the stuff..

The guy was parked there every day I passed the corner

Looks like it is the red day – today

Heavy construction in down town Leh

Happy guy in the sun

We did find the Temple of the Dogs on our way up to the palace. They do rest in the day so they can bark all night.

There where a few more on each side. Not everybody can sleep elevated. Some have to work their way up i guess.

Don’t urinate here! Guess the guys that can read English would not do so. But the ones that can not read it did. Not sure why this message is in English. But the urine was the smaller problem on the way up. A lot of people come here to have a shit with a view – at last that is how it looks. And dog shit does look somehow different.

Well we walked all the way up here to discover that – good thing we where all only friends – so no romance involved!

Finally – The entrance to the palace – that was almost the only thing to take a picture here.

View from the palace in Leh

This is where most of the tourist guest houses are. More green and with a view of the Shanti Stupa.

Some painting – they could do a better job with preserving that place

I have no clue how we did missed the Palace Museum but we did. Might be because there was no power so it was closed or they removed the sign to it? I guess apart from the view of the city that would be the reason to visit the palace! We stopped on the way down at a little coffee shop.

Nice street in the old part of Leh

Interesting fence construction

I think it will be hard to find 2 Royal Enfields that look the same when they are ot of the factory for more than a year or so.

Another sleeping beauty

Cheese and Butter Milk shop

End of one of the many prayers a day. The place in front of the mosque fills up quick.

The Namgyal Tsemo Monastery at sun set. It was founded in 1430 and is still looking good.